


Investigation Discovery’s Closer Look: Tumor of Terror

by IJM



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:55:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IJM/pseuds/IJM
Summary: One person back from the dead. Props. Revisiting the past. Two heifers.
Relationships: Robert "Franco" Frank/Elizabeth Webber
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Investigation Discovery’s Closer Look: Tumor of Terror

**Author's Note:**

> My own life and being a resident of Planet Earth has me feeling overwhelmed. I wanted to write, but honestly didn’t have an idea. Here is a non-story quilted together to make a documentary like the show suggested. Quite honestly, if I were a real writer, I would be too embarrassed to pitch this as a professional suggestion. Also, in this story Ronnie Dimestico is still alive. All fan fiction is its own alternate universe.

{Television On. Dramatic Music Plays}

Stephanie Vinetti: {Voiceover to photos of Franco’s life and the others appearing in the documentary.} Tonight, we investigate the fascinating, scandalous, and scintillating case of reformed serial killer Franco. Can a serial killer be reformed? Was a brain tumor the real culprit? Or is there another, more sinister culprit who set the murders in motion. Tonight, you will hear about Franco’s childhood trauma of severe sexual abuse beginning when he was just a toddler. You will hear about his childhood of being bullied. You will meet his best friend from kindergarten. You’ll meet a couple of the people that he stalked. You’ll meet his therapist, colleagues, friends, father, and—maybe the biggest surprise of all—you will meet the wife and children of the man now known as _Franco Baldwin_ , Artist and Art Therapist. What a difference a decade can make… tonight on Investigation Discovery’s Closer Look: Tumor of Terror.

Stephanie: Ronnie Dimestico… one could say this all started with you.

Ronnie Dimestico: I don’t think so. Bobby—Franco—took a wrap for a robbery I was accused of because he didn’t want me to go to jail. I only said I was _accused_ of it. Bobby wanted to protect me.

Stephanie: Why?

Ronnie: I was his best friend, his only friend. First, back in kindergarten, then again when we wound up at the same high school. I protected him and he returned the favor.

Stephanie: Protected him from what?

Ronnie: Other kids. Bobby was an easy target. I didn’t know it then, but it makes sense now. That bastard Jim Harvey trained him to be a victim. He’s where it starts, not me.

Betsy Frank: This is really my fault. I let Jim Harvey into our lives, and he violated my little boy when he was only three years old. I didn’t know what was going on in my own home. {sobs}

Franco Baldwin: I had to learn to fight in jail. I couldn’t be passive anymore. It was a different method of survival.

Stephanie: Compared to surviving the sexual abuse?

Franco: {blinks} Yeah, a young man surviving prison is quite different than a toddler surviving repetitive sexual assault.

Stephanie: Tell me about Jim Harvey.

Franco: No. You know everything you need to know. I’m not sensationalizing details of my past so you can get ratings.

Stephanie: How did you deal with bullies when you were younger? Your friend Ronnie said he protected you for some of the time you were in school.

Franco: When Ronnie wasn’t around, I was passive aggressive. I could sabotage the kids who tried to hurt me. Eventually most of them would realize being cruel to me always had some kind of mysterious, untraceable comeuppance.

Stephanie: Are you proud of that?

Franco: I protected myself without violence or being a tattletale.

Stephanie: You didn’t answer the question.

Franco: {shrugs}

Kevin Collins: Franco is one of the most intelligent, perhaps _the_ most intelligent patient I have ever had. His ability to see cause and effect and his problem-solving skills were far, far advanced for a three-to-four-year-old child. He’s fascinating. I’m not surprised at all that he could manipulate circumstances to protect himself. He protected his believed-to-be twin when he was only a toddler.

Lucas Jones: Records indicate that his tumor was slow-growing and would have begun in his twenties, altering his brain chemistry and his response patterns.

Kevin: I have studied serial killers in depth, most notably, my twin brother Ryan Chamberlain, and my former and current patient Franco. There are so many similarities between Ryan and Franco’s history—the abuse, being _the twin_ left behind to endure abuse while the other was saved. The difference is Ryan is a true psychopath while Franco was physically ill.

Stephanie: Not every abuse victim becomes a serial killer.

Lucas: Not every abuse victim or every serial killer has a giant mass on his brain either. The science is irrefutable. Frontal lobe tumors can affect behavior.

Kevin: {has MRI images} If you look at the contrast of the MRIs here, you see Franco on one side and Ryan on the other. Ryan’s pleasure centers light up when speaking of his crimes. Franco’s brain shows none of that and, in fact, shows distress. You can literally see his remorse. There’s your difference. Ryan _doesn’t_ and, more significantly, _can’t_ feel remorse.

Stephanie: You believe that Franco’s being exonerated of his crimes was a correct legal choice?

Lucas: It was certainly the correct medical choice.

Kevin: Absolutely.

Scotty Baldwin: Not guilty by reason of mental defect. If a frontal lobe tumor the size of a Buick doesn’t constitute a mental defect, what does? My son has proven the kind of man he really is over and over and, quite frankly, I’m sick of people dragging up his past like this.

Stephanie: But you agreed to speak with us.

Scotty: You were doing the documentary anyway. The least I could do was help my kid get his side of the story out.

Franco: There was going to be a documentary with or without me. At least with me I have some say in how much you sensationalize it.

Stephanie: How did you become a serial killer?

Franco: I became obsessed with death while I was in prison. I heard about this guy who killed over and over and never got caught. I became infatuated with that killer— _alleged killer_ —and was rebuffed when I wanted to meet with him. It pissed me off.

Stephanie: You were a subject of Franco’s obsession. Do you ever regret just not meeting with him? Could you have saved lives?

Jason Morgan: {blinks}

Stephanie: Did you want to outdo _the alleged hitman?_

Franco: I wanted to _understand_ him. I wanted to know how someone could grow up privileged and protected and throw it all away to be a hitman. _Alleged hitman_. If he killed, I killed. I don’t know why that made sense to me at one time.

Stephanie: It doesn’t make sense to you now?

Franco: I know that person was me because all the evidence and my own memories say so. That person seems like a different person altogether. I know, intellectually, that it was me—my actions. My work. My depravity. But that person isn’t in me anymore. I hate him. I wish he never existed. I’m sorry for everything he did. It scares me that my brain was so dysfunctional that I killed people in the name of art. That is… unfathomable to me now as an artist but, more importantly, as a human being.

Stephanie: I can see you’re physically distressed when you speak of your past actions.

Franco: Of course, I am. If I could crawl out of this skin, I would. I don’t want to be that person. He isn’t me, but I can’t escape him.

Stephanie: You’ve made a good life for yourself since your tumor was removed. Can you tell me about your wife and stepchildren?

Franco: They’re my world. They don’t deserve to go through this. I resent that you went ahead with this documentary because it could negatively impact them.

Stephanie: Do you want to keep your past from them?

Elizabeth Baldwin: Franco has never kept his past from the boys. They know who he was and what he did. They also know he was sick. And, like me, they believe in who Franco is now. He has changed and he’s changed for the better. Few people can say that.

Stephanie: Now we are joined by Franco Baldwin’s stepchildren, Cameron, Jake, and Aiden. Tell us what it’s like to have Franco as a father figure in your life?

Cameron Webber: He’s not just a father figure to me. He’s the only dad I have. And he’s great. I’m _proud_ he’s my dad.

Jake Webber: He’s the best.

Aiden Webber: Yeah, he’s really cool.

Stephanie: Have you ever thought you were in danger?

Jake: From Franco? No way! He’s my best friend.

Aiden: No. He’s nice and funny and he loves us a lot more than our real dads do.

Jake: That’s true.

Stephanie: Did your mother tell you that?

Jake: She didn’t have to. Right, Aiden?

Aiden: Right.

Stephanie: You are the biological father of one of Franco’s stepsons. How do you feel about him raising your child?

Jason: {blinks}

Stephanie: Has your mother’s relationship with Franco been the source of any conflict?

Cameron: In the beginning, I thought my mom was crazy, but I eventually realized that Franco isn’t a danger to anyone, unless they hurt mom or one of us, maybe.

Elizabeth: My children are my priority. I would not put them in harm’s way. That’s a mistake I might have made in the past, but I like to think that I have also grown and changed into a better, stronger person. Franco enriches my life in so many ways. He’s a wonderful father to our boys.

Stephanie: Are you all aware of his past crimes?

Cameron: Yeah. We know he was violent and deadly when he was sick. We also know who he is since he’s not sick anymore.

Jake: He’s never been anything but a great dad and a great friend to us.

Stephanie: What would you do if he got sick again?

Aiden: Ask a doctor for help.

Stephanie: That seems straightforward.

Aiden: There’s a girl in my class who is diabetic. When her blood sugar is high or low, she can’t do a lot of things. Sometimes she can’t read or add or speak clearly. So, we all know she needs help and to tell the teacher. But when she’s feeling okay, she’s super smart. It’s not hard to understand.

Jake: It’s just science.

Elizabeth: I know my husband. If something were off, I would see to it that he got help. I also know he would comply if I asked him to get an MRI every month. He’s the best man I know.

Cameron: Our dad loves us, and he would do anything for us, even this stupid interview.

Stephanie: You think this is stupid?

Cameron: You’re digging up someone’s past when that person has changed. When someone was going to hurt me, he protected me with his life. He loves us and he’s empathetic and understanding, things he couldn’t feel when he had the tumor. Look, one of my best friends had a brain tumor so I read a lot about them. A tumor can have millions of side effects depending on where it is in the brain. You can’t be intelligent and say the tumor didn’t affect him.

Stephanie: Tell us more about when Franco saved you, Cameron.

Cameron: I was kidnapped by a cult leader who was going to put Drew Cain’s memories in my head. I know it sounds crazy. But Franco found me and begged him to let him take my place. He knew he might never remember his own life again, but he was willing to cease existing for me. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Stephanie: You are somewhat indirectly responsible for Franco being assaulted by Hank Archer and having his brain scrambled. Do you think of that as karmic justice for what he did to you?

Jason: {blinks}

Jake: He saved my life too by jumping on that bad man who was going to kidnap me and my mom.

Stephanie: Jim Harvey?

Jake: That’s him.

Stephanie: Since it’s come up, I assume you’ve all learned what Jim Harvey did to Franco when he was a kid?

Cameron: Yeah. I’m glad he’s dead.

Jake: He was evil.

Aiden: Big people shouldn’t hurt little kids.

Stephanie: Do you think that played a part in his psychosis?

Cameron. I can barely even understand that happening to someone, much less how it would play a part in psychosis.

Kevin: As I said before, of course it played a part in his psychosis. He was subjected to evil in his formative years.

Diane Miller: Have you seen the tumor? Because I happen to have it with me. {Takes tumor in a jar from her purse} I brought this out at the hearing where I had Franco acquitted of all charges. If this were on your frontal lobe, you’d be crazy too.

Stephanie: You were stalked by Franco. How did that affect you?

Jason: {blinks}

Stephanie: Do you think Franco has changed.

Sam McCall: I have to begrudgingly say yes. I won’t go into details because I’m not going to sing the man’s praises. However, I have no fear of him anymore.

Stephanie: As a medical professional, what is your opinion on the tumor theory?

Liesl Obrecht: _Vat_ theory? There _vas_ a tumor and the tumor made Franco behave badly. Only an idiot _vould_ fail to comprehend such simplicity.

Laura Collins: Franco is a like a son-in-law to me. He’s saved our town more than once, recently from an escaped madman, Ryan Chamberlain.

Jordan Ashford: I compelled Franco to go undercover to sus out the real killer. He was being framed by Ryan, so we had to outsmart him.

Franco: I wouldn’t call her plan smart. She broke about nineteen laws to coerce me into doing what she wanted, then failed to provide protection. I almost died because of her.

Jordan: His bravery saved our city, who knows how many other potential victims were saved? I made sure he got a special accommodation.

Franco: Accommodation? Oh, that _best heifer at the county fair_ quality ribbon? Definitely worth being stabbed.

Elizabeth: She is the most incompetent…

Jordan: Franco would be a great detective. If he ever gets tired of being a therapist, I will offer him a job.

Franco: I’ll pass.

Stephanie: How did you fall in love with Franco? Why did you marry him while he was under arrest for murder?

Elizabeth: How did I fall in love? We got to know each other, and I saw the wonderful man he is. No one has ever loved me or my kids like he does. I married him because I believed in him, in his innocence, and I wanted him to know it.

Ava Jerome: I had a relationship with Franco many years ago and we shared a daughter. I’m envious of his relationship with Elizabeth. I want what they have. The difference, of course, is that Franco has changed and I’m pretty much the same person I’ve always been. Maybe if I were a better person, I could find a fairytale love like that.

Stephanie: Do you want him back?

Ava: {laughs} I would be a fool to try to compete with Elizabeth Webber Baldwin. No other woman could distract his heart from hers.

Kim Nero: One day Drew will come back and then we can be together. I know Drew will fight to get back to me. {humming and rocking back and forth}

Elizabeth: That crazy heifer should be the subject of your next documentary. 

Stephanie: A decade can make a difference.

Kevin: A man can make a difference if he chooses to.

Stephanie: This has been _Tumor of Terror_. We would follow up in another ten years, but people don’t actually commemorate the actions of serial killers that way. It’s just a weird Port Charles, New York, thing. We take away the lesson that people can change. Good night and good luck.

{credits roll}

Jason: {blinks}

**Author's Note:**

> Not for profit.  
> No claim of ownership of characters.  
> For entertainment purposes only.  
> Feedback is greatly appreciated on any/all stories.


End file.
